


There is lots of ways to forget Vegas

by TheIceQueen



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Healing, Angel Wings, Anger, Brotherly Love, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drunk Dean Winchester, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hangover, Hugs, Hurt Sam Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Las Vegas, M/M, Promises, Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Gabriel, Rage, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Revenge, SPN Genre Bingo, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 18:57:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15492507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIceQueen/pseuds/TheIceQueen
Summary: It turns out that being hungover and broke after a night in Las Vegas isn't the worst thing that can happen. Dean have to forget about the alcohol and the loss of money when he finds Sam is worse of than him.





	There is lots of ways to forget Vegas

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is written for the SPN Genre Bingo. Square filled: Vegas

”You have to be kidding. Dean, it’s a six hour de-tour.”

“In a two-day drive. I don’t see the problem. We can make good money.”

Sam shook his head and looked at his overly excited brother, driving even more above the speed limit than usual.

“Like you’re going to get out of there with more than you got there with.”

“We need to sleep anyway. We might as well do it there.”

“Are you seriously trying to tell me that you’re driving of the direct route home to _sleep_ in Las Vegas?”

“Well, Buzzkill. You drive tomorrow then. You’ll sleep I’m sure.”

Sam sighed and looked out the window. Dean was like a little kid when it came to these things, the problem was that this particular little kid was driving the car, so there wasn’t that much to do when his mind was set.

* * *

Dean was drunk… Like he hadn’t been in a long time. If his head hadn’t been so heavy he might have been concerned about the amount of alcohol it had taken to get him there. He didn’t remember their room number, but Dean was pretty sure he could remember the way to the room. Leaning heavily with his shoulder against the door he tried four times before the keycard would fit in the slide. The door opened, and he tumbled to the floor and hit his head on the wall.

“Shhh.” He hushed himself and whispered into the dark. “Sorry Sam.”

When he unraveled his body he felt the added dizziness from the hit. “That’s gonna hurt tomorrow.”

He crawled to the nearest bed in the small hotel room and with much effort, got seated on the mattress. For a few seconds he contemplated taking his shoes and jeans off, but he couldn’t be bothered. He fell to the side and barely got his legs up before he was sleeping.

* * *

The headache Dean woke up with was not from the fall. He didn’t even remember that. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten back to the room. The only thing he remembered was the hope that Sam hadn’t gambled all the money away and used what little there was left to get hammered. Then they both would be hungover and broke.

Slowly and with a pitiful moan, Dean sat up in bed and sluggishly looked at his watch as he held his pounding head with the other hand. 11 am. As much as the thought of going in the Impala, any car, for about fourteen hours in his state, repulsed him, he really wanted to spend the night in his own bed. If only Cas or Gabriel were there to beam them back home, but thinking it over again, Dean realized that his stomach might be better of with the car anyway.

“Sam. Get up.” The words echoed in his own head.

There was no answer and he turned around to look at the other bed. It was dark, delightfully dark, in the room. Dean threw his pillow at Sam but when it flew low over the bed not hitting anything, Dean’s eyes quickly got adjusted to the dim lights. Sam wasn’t there.

Dean got up too quick. He steadied himself against the wall before calling out for his brother again. Still no answer. After zigzagging his way to the bathroom and confirming that Sam wasn’t there either he found his phone still in his jacket pocket, still on him.

“C’mon, Sam. Pick up…”

It went straight to voicemail.

The light outside the room made him almost throw up. He squinted and held his hand against his forehead, but he didn’t slow down. The room was prepaid, they had learned from experience that it was a good idea when they were in Vegas, so he just headed for the car with both his and Sam’s bags on the shoulders.

After throwing the bags in the trunk, he tried calling again with the same outcome. “Sam, dammit. How the hell am I going to find you in freakin Las Vegas?”

At first, he thought it was the drinks from the night before, that made everything uncomfortable, but before he turned the key he realized that the backrest of the seat was more upright, as if it was being pushed forward. Dean looked back and saw his huge little brother lying crumbled up on the floor behind the front seats.

“Sam!”

Dean ignored the added pain from shouting and rushed out to open the door to the back seat. Sam was awake but didn’t look at him.

“Sam! What the hell?”

Dean reached for his brother’s arm but with the first hint of a touch Sam recoiled. Then he looked at Dean, like he was surprised to see him there. He looked like he hadn’t slept for a week and he had the beginning of what would be a huge shiner around the left eye.

“Did you get in a fight? Why did you sleep in here?

Sam shook his head. “I…” He looked down at his knees and what seemed to be a broken hand. “Can we just go? I’m okay.”

Dean took a few seconds to inspect the situation. What the hell was going on? Sam could handle himself in a fight and if someone got the upper hand and he’d gotten his ass handed to him, he still wouldn’t sit here. He didn’t seem seriously hurt though, so Dean figured that he would get the story later.

“Okay, but are you going to sit there all the way to Kansas?”

Sam shifted and started to lift himself up from the floor. It took some time with the broken wrist proving useless and his body seemingly sore and stiff.

“Do you need a hospital?”

Sam froze for just a second, then he hummed in disagreement and continued to move up to the seat. With a not-so-well hidden growl of pain, Sam got situated sitting in the back seat. His eyes met Dean’s for a split second, but it was enough that Dean understood that now was not the time.

“You sure you’re okay to travel? We can stay another night.”

Like a switch was turned on, Sam’s whole body tensed, and he made his hands into fists, even the one slowly turning purple. “Let’s just get out of here.”

* * *

The fourteen hour drive, was done in eleven, and in complete silence. If it hadn’t been for the confusion and worry Dean couldn’t put away, he would have fallen asleep and killed them booth in a terrible accident. But Dean didn’t feel tired, he didn’t feel hungover and after the night rolled in over them and it got darker, his headache almost disappeared too.

Sam had been looking empty out the window for the whole ride, not moving a muscle. Why wouldn’t he just go to sleep? He was clearly in need of some rest.

“I’m taking the bags in. You meet me in the infirmary.” Dean was out of the car before Sam, but he could hear him come alive in there.

“That’s not necessary. Dean, I’m good.”

“The hell it isn’t!” Dean opened the door in Sam’s side. “We need to make sure that hand heals probably, and who knows what else is going on.”

Sam looked down, avoiding is brother’s gaze, and started to move out of the car, again failing in hiding the pain he clearly was in. Dean watched Sam’s every move. There wasn’t anything obvious, no visible blood, but he looked like he might have bruised a few ribs.

When Dean had dropped their stuff in the library and got to the room, Sam was seated on the high and uncomfortable sickbed, looking at his broken hand in the other, resting on his knees.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened?”

Sam didn’t look op, but Dean could see his jaw clenching, so he just sat down on the small chair and rolled over to him silent. He put his hand on his brother’s knee. “Okay Sammy. But you’re kinda freaking me out here. Just let me know if it’s done, that it’s not something we should worry about following us home.”

Sam turned his head away and took a deep breath. “Nothing is coming after us. It’s done.”

Dean was sure Sam was telling the truth, but something made him feel like this wasn’t over. Sam had never reacted like this before. Why wouldn’t he tell him if he’d found something in Vegas? Dean wasn’t even sure this fight had been job related. For now the only thing he could do was to make sure his little brother healed right. Why were their damn angels always MIA when they needed them?

Sam’s hand was easy to splint, and he let Dean do it without objection, the ribs was another story.

“C’mon. Take your shirt off. Dammit Sam, just let me have a look.”

“It’s nothing Dean. I just need to sleep.”

“If it’s nothing, then let me see. And don’t pretend to go sleep, you just spend eleven hours in the Impala in total silence and you didn’t even nod off once.”

“I just need quiet.”

Sam stood up, slowly and painfully, and walked towards the door. Dean grabbed his forearm and Sam flinched, not from surprise but from pain. Dean held on tighter while inspecting Sam trying to mask the pain while still pulling his arm to himself.

“That’s it! I need to see, or we’re going to a hospital and let someone else do it!”

Sam eventually let Dean pull him back towards the table. A few feet from it he stopped and with his back to Dean he pulled the jumper over his head.

Dean’s eyes widened at the sight of Sam’s back. The shoulder blades were bruised in what seemed like marks from knuckles and maybe a shoe. The lower back was worse. Dean couldn’t see what bruise ended and started where. With a light hand he turned Sam by the shoulder and took the jumper from his hands to reveal the almost black mark over his lower left rib case.

“Fuck.” Dean sat down on the chair and took in the sight of his beaten little brother. “Sammy…”

Sam picked up the shirt again, but Dean put a hand on his to stop him. “Wait. Sam, please. What the hell happened? If you don’t want to tell me, can you please tell Gabriel. I’m sure if we yell loud enough we’ll…”

“No, Dean.” Sam got dressed again and looked Dean straight in the eyes. “Just… no. Don’t call him down here.”

Before Dean could figure out what to say, Sam had left the room.

* * *

Dean was unpacking the duffle bags in an unusually slow pace. He couldn’t wrap his head around this, and all he wanted to do was to call the angels. Cas wasn’t great with these kind of things, but Dean could always went to him and he would understand the worry. Gabriel was the best thing that had happened to Sam in years and they were both softies that talked about everything, and now Sam didn’t want him here. None of this sat right with Dean.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a phone ringing. It was an old one, he was actually a bit surprised that it was still around. He picked it from the bottom of a side pocket in the bag.

“Yeah.”

“ _Dean?_ ”

“Cas?”

“ _Yes, it is me. Why are you not answering any of your other phones?_ ”

Thinking back, most of his phones would probably be without power by now. He hadn’t thought about getting them charged when they got home.

“I’m sure they’re dead.”

Dean heard someone in the background, someone who was in a hurry.

“Is that Gabriel?”

“ _Yes. He is certain something is wrong with Sam. Where are you?_ ”

For the most parts Dean was happy his angel-boyfriend and his brother didn’t have a way to track their every move, but when their phones were dead it would be convenient. If only he could turn the markings on his ribs on and off.

“We’re home. At the bunker. Sam’s…”

The double sound of wings fluttering broke his sentence and both angles was in front of him.

“Where’s Sam?” Gabriel looked worried out of his mind.

“What…? How did you…?” Gabriel didn’t have any way to track either of them, so how would he know anything was up?

Cas stepped forward and put a firm hand on Dean’s shoulder. “Some angels can sense when their partner is hurting. Is Sam here?”

Dean nodded at Gabriel. “He didn’t tell me what happened. He’s clearly been beaten. I think he went to your room.”

Gabriel vanished as quick as he’d appeared.

Dean looked at his everlasting calm boyfriend. “Do you feel that with me too?”

Castiel looked away then he sighed at took Dean’s hand and nodded. “Haven’t you noticed that I’ll call or stay around longer when you’re in a bad place?”

Dean thought it over. Castiel was right. During the five years they had been together, he’d always been there when he needed him, even when Dean didn’t knew it himself.

“Cas. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Castiel looked Dean in the eyes. “I reckoned it wasn’t important. I’m not as sensitive as Gabriel anyway. He seemed like he felt the pain Sam was in. I just get a… feeling, I guess, that something is not as it should be.”

Dean pulled Castiel in for a quick kiss, but quickly looked him in the eyes again.

“Sam is not alright, is he?”

Cas’s eyes turned sad and he shook his head. “I started calling you when Gabriel couldn’t get a hold of Sam. After trying a few times, he fell to the floor, crying.”

Dean’s mind went blank for a moment and the first thing that made it’s way back in there, was that he had to talk to his brother, but Castiel held his arm and stopped him from going.

“Dean. If you haven’t been able to talk to him, we have to let Gabriel try. Let us find something on your Netflix.”

Reluctantly, Dean walked with Castiel to the tv room and put on some random show.

* * *

“Sam. Love, open the door.”

Gabriel could zap in there in a second, but he sensed that Sam didn’t wanted to be surprised.

“Sam, please.”

“Not now Gabe. Let me rest a bit, okay?”

Once in a while Sam wanted to be alone, and Gabriel would let him rest in their room for a few hours, but this was different. Sam was hurting, and Gabriel had trouble holding back his own tears, and angels don’t really cry that much.

“Love. I won’t leave you alone, but I don’t want to force myself in there either. I’ll stay here till you open the door.”

It was quiet behind the door for a few moments, then Sam spoke with a voice small enough that no one but an angel could have heard it through the door.

“Come in.”

A split second later, Gabriel was looking at Sam lying on his side, making himself small in their big bed.

“Sam.” Gabriel kneeled down in front of Sam. “Love. What is going on?”

“I got beat up. I just need sleep.” Sam didn’t look up, he just kept staring into the edge of the mattress.

Gabriel knew that Sam was leaving out something. A simple beating, even a bad one, wouldn’t make Sam feel thins crappy and hurt on the inside.

“Please tell me what this is really about. I want to help.”

“It’s nothing, honestly.”

Gabriel sighed and lifted his hand to touch Sam’s forehead. “Let me at least heal you.”

Sam grabbed his wrist, moving too fast in the prosses and hissed in pain from his broken ribs. Gabriel was surprised and sat frozen looking at Sam.

“What…? Sam?”

“If you heal me you will see everything, right?” Sam looked at Gabriel for the first time. He looked just as scared as Gabriel’s stomach told him that he was.

“I won’t read your mind.”

“No, not that.” Sam let go of his angel’s hand and tugged both of his under his head. “You will know everything that’s hurt.”

Gabriel swallowed. So something more than his wrist, black eye, bruises and broken ribs was hurt. Sam was right, though. He would know everything. Gabriel was fearing that he already was figuring it out, but so far, he refused to believe it.

“I will. But Sam, it wasn’t just a beating, you’re not yourself. This way you don’t have to say it. I’ll just know.”

* * *

Sam didn’t want Gabriel to know. He didn’t want anyone to know. He just wanted to forget. To finally take Deans advice and shove it down and let it come out in spurts of violence and alcoholism.

“Gabe, please…”

“No, Sam. I can’t let you deal with whatever this is alone. I know you’re not alright.”

Gabriel had told Sam that he could feel when something was off with him. Ever since they got together a year ago, Sam hadn’t been able to hide his insecurities about the two of them. Truth be told, it had been the best thing for their relationship. Right now he wished that Gabriel and he wasn’t even together. It would have been better to be single again.

Sam looked away and wondered how long he could hold this secret, but he felt that Gabriel already had figured it out, or at least suspected it. He felt his boyfriend’s light hand on his shoulder but still didn’t look up as tears were burning in his eyes.

“Love?”

Gabriel was almost whispering, and Sam didn’t move. Not even when the angel moved his hand and put two fingers on his forehead. Sam was frozen in place. He wanted to yell at Gabriel to leave him the hell alone, but he knew that there was no way around this. Eventually, his persistent boyfriend would find out anyway.

“Sam?”

Sam nodded slightly, and a warm buzzing spread through his body from his forehead all the way to his toes. When the feeling left him he didn’t feel anymore pain. The bruise on his wrist and the soreness to his midsection and eye was gone. The feeling of not being able to fill his lungs with air was still there, and he realized that it wasn’t because of the ribs.

Gabriel’s hand had left him and for a few seconds he waited for his boyfriend to speak or do something, anything, but nothing happened. He lifted his head slowly and looked at the angel. Gabriel had sat down on his heels and had both hands in his lap. Sam didn’t remember ever seeing the angel cry, but tears were flowing slowly over both cheeks.

“Gabe?”

Gabriel seemed to come to his senses and looked at Sam. “Sam, oh…” Gabriel barely touched Sam’s upper arm with his palm. “Love. I’m so sorry. What to you need me to do?”

Sam felt his lower lip quivering and his tears were going to break the levees soon. Up until now he didn’t know, but now he just wanted to be with his boyfriend. He lifted his arm and moved back a little. Gabriel understood and got into bed with him. Sam snuggled up to Gabriel and hid his face against his chest. Gabriel held him tight and soon Sam felt the warmth from big and soft feathers embracing him.

None of them knew how long they stayed like that. Gabriel hushing Sam while he wet Gabriel’s shirt and the sheath. When Sam finally stilled and started breathing normally again, Gabriel looked down at him.

“Love. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Sam hesitated, looking anywhere but Gabriel’s eyes. He didn’t ever want to leave this embrace, but even more, he wanted to make the five men who did this pay.

“Can you…?”

“Anything.”

Sam still didn’t look at Gabriel, but he felt his boyfriend’s eyes boring into the top of his head.

“Can you see it? I mean… See them… Can you find them?”

Gabriel pushed Sam head up with a light finger under his chin, and they locked eyes. “You sure?”

Sam nodded timidly, but he was sure.

Gabriel kissed Sam lightly on the forehead and placed a palm on his temple.

“Okay?”

Sam nodded. “Okay.”

Everything went black for a few seconds; his body was shaking, and he desperately held on to the angel to make sure he was still in the room and not back in Vegas when he got his sight back.

“Sam?”

Before Sam could open his eyes, he swallowed a gag and quickly he sprung from the bed and down the hall to the bathroom. The way Gabriel closed the door before rubbing Sam’s back, made him realize tha Dean and Castiel must have seen him run in there.

“I’m sorry, Babe. I played it fast, so you wouldn’t see it again, but you felt it, didn’t you?”

Sam nodded while still emptying his stomach into the toilet. He squeezed tight on the hand Gabriel offered and held on to him until he was able to sit back and look at the mournful angel.

“D-did you see?”

Gabriel nodded. “I did. I’m going to kill all of them, but I won’t leave you. I can find them when you’re better.”

Sam took Gabriel’s hand in both of his and held it close to his chest. He looked at his eyes for a moment, but it was too hard to see the hurt in there, so he broke off and looked down.

“Gabe…” Sam had to whisper to prevent another round of vomiting or crying. “…you can’t kill them, they are only humans.”

Gabriel pulled Sam up to stand in front of him and with a blink of an eye they were back in the bedroom. Sam followed his gesture to lie down again, but Gabriel didn’t join him. He sat down in front of him and took his hand.

“Those men are the worst monsters I’ve ever seen.” Sam noticed Gabriel blinking away tears. “I’ll send Dean and Cas. They’ll make them turn themselves in if you don’t want them dead.”

Sam wanted them gone, he wanted them to have died two days ago so they’d never seen him. He wanted Gabriel to have outlet for the anger making the otherwise so lighthearted angel’s eyes dark, but most of all he wanted to make them hurt. He wanted them to pay and death wasn’t enough.

“I want them locked up. I want them to never be able to do this again… but…” Sam started crying. He took his hand from Gabriel’s and hid his face, instinctively hiding himself and avoiding how vulnerable he felt in front of his boyfriend.

Gabriel brushed his hair from his face and held lightly on to his shoulder. “But, what Sam?”

Sam tried to get the words out, and with them came loud sobs. “I… I don’t want…” Sam took a deep breath and looked at Gabriel waiting so patiently for him to get the words sorted. “Please… don’t… don’t tell Dean.”

Gabriel leaned in and hugged Sam’s shaking head and shoulders. “Babe. I won’t leave you. If you want this done, we have to send them.” He wiped away a few of Sam’s tears, and looked caringly at the big man. “I can show them the faces without them seeing anything else, but even if I only send Cas, Dean will figure it out eventually, you know that. I can wipe his memory after if you want… and yours too.”

Sam looked long and investigative at Gabriel then he nodded for him to go, and pulled his arms, knees and head close together and cried again. If the information didn’t kill Dean, his big brother would kill every man in Vegas, just to be sure he’d gotten the right ones too.

* * *

Castiel had tied to make Dean think of something else, but he knew that protecting Sam was embedded so deep in him that he wouldn’t be able to. The sprint Sam had made for the bathroom had resulted in Dean pacing the floor’s entire length in the library. No matter what Castiel had said to reason with him he wouldn’t go back to the couch with him, and the angel had turned off the show and settled down on a chair just watching Dean getting more and more agitated.

“Guys.”

Dean froze, staring at Gabriel as if he didn’t want to interrupt the explanation that had to follow. Castiel stood up and instinctively, stepped forward to almost stand between his brother and Dean. “Is he alright?”

Gabriel just shook his head and walked passed Castiel to face Dean.

“Dean. I’m going to show you both five faces. I need you to go to Las Vegas and find them.”

Before either of them could react, Gabriel had a hand on both Dean’s and Castiel’s temple. I’d had been awhile since Castiel had felt the flash of pictures running trough his head. It took a moment for him to regain his sight, and when he did he saw Dean still struggling with his.

“Gabe…” Dean held his forehead with a palm. “Who are they? What did they do?”

Gabriel looked at Castiel with sad eyes that clearly told him that they had to be prepared for anything from Dean.

“You have to make them confess. To make them turn themselves in.”

“Confess to what?!”

Dean was about to explode. If it was denial or reluctance, Castiel didn’t know, but it was clear to Castiel that Dean hadn’t drawn the same conclusion that he had. He hoped that Gabriel would tell them something different entirely, but he knew that wouldn’t happen.

Gabriel put a hand on Dean’s shoulder and Castiel stepped closer to the two.

“Confess to rape.”

Dean looked long at Gabriel, too long for Castiel’s liking.

“They… No…” Dean looked down and then at Castiel. “Rape?”

Gabriel nodded carefully. “I’m sorry Dean…”

Castiel took hold of Dean’s limp hand and hoped that his boyfriend would do something. Scream, cry, even throw punches at either one of them. He wanted him to react.

Dean looked at Gabriel wit empty eyes. “Rape…? No, it can’t… all…” Dean swallowed in a way he’d only seen him do right before he’d thrown up. “…all five...? Sammy…”

Castiel and Gabriel barely had time to grab Dean’s arms and had to follow the limp body down to land on his knees.

“Dean?” Castiel rubbed his back, hoping that he would look at him.

“Sammy…”

Dean had tears in his eyes, but as soon as the first tear fell, he straightened his back and stood up. Both angles tried to support him when the elevation clearly happened too fast. Dean shook their hands from him and ran to pull his duffle bag from under the table. He opened it and frantically looked over everything in it.

Castiel shared a look with his brother and then took a step closer to Dean. “Dean?”

“Get ready to zap me to Vegas. I trust you can locate those monsters without breaking a sweat.”

“I can but…”

“I’m going to kill them! I’ll tie them up and kill them slowly, so they can watch each other bleed!”

While Castiel was wondering what to say, Gabriel moved into Dean’s line of sight. “Dean, Sam doesn’t…”

“I’m going!”

Castiel waved Gabriel away and put a calm hand over Dean’s busy hands on the bag. “We will go Dean. But we will do it like Sam want it done.”

Dean looked at him and then at Gabriel, who had withdrawn to the corner of the big room. “Sammy…” Dean swallowed again and Castiel squeezed his hand a little tighter. “… how is he?”

Gabriel came a few steps closer again. “He’s not okay, Dean. I know better than to lie to you. He’s talking, and I’d healed his physical injuries, but it will take time.”

Dean let go of Castiel and swung the bag over his shoulder, before he went to his brother’s boyfriend. “You need to help him. I’ll do whatever he want, just get him better.”

Gabriel nodded, and Dean left the room.

“Brother, I’m sorry.” Castiel hugged Gabriel.

They almost never hugged, but right now it wasn’t awkward for the two angles to do so.

“Castiel.” Gabriel looked him in the eyes. “Sam doesn’t want them dead. You have to control Dean. No matter what he just said, he will go ballistic as soon as he lays eyes on those men.”

“I know. I’ll stop him. But you know, we can do more than make them confess. We have to make sure they never do anything like this again.”

Gabriel nodded. “Make sure.”

Both angels nodded and with a handshake the feelings, the physical pain and the distress and despair, Sam had felt was passed to Castiel in a small burning package, that he had no intention of opening before it was out of him and in each of those men.

* * *

Sam was sleeping in Gabriel’s arms when Dean opened the door to their room. Just before he closed the door again, Gabriel lifted his head and gestured for him to come in. Dean walked carefully through the room and kneeled down next to the bed. He wasn’t sure if it was okay to wake Sam up. He wasn’t even sure he should be in there with them.

Gabriel brushed Sam’s cheek with light fingers. “Babe. Dean is here.”

Sam shifted sluggishly and slowly opened his eyes to look at Gabriel. Gabriel smiled lovingly at him. “Sam. Dean is back.”

Gabriel looked at Dean and Sam’s eyes followed, but quickly looked down, and Dean’s stomach sunk to his knees.

“Sammy. It’s done. They won’t do it to anyone else.”

Sam looked up, startled, and maybe even scared. “You didn’t… did you…?”

“Kill them?”

Sam nodded.

“No. I wanted to. I almost did, but Cas stopped me. I’ll still do it if you want.”

Sam looked a little relieved but just as quickly looked away and retracted into Gabriel’s embrace from behind him.

“Sam. Gabe can wipe my memory if you want it, but listen first okay?”

Sam nodded, and Dean put a hand on his little brother’s shoulder.

“Everything Gabe saw and felt, everything you felt, was passed on to them. They felt it.” Sam looked up, clearly confused. “They felt everything Sam. I didn’t see much. When the first of them seemed to figure out what was happening, I made Cas knock me out. When I woke up, they were… well in shock, I think. Cas told them that if they tried to do anything like that again they’d go through that again. When he told them to go to the police, they just went.”

Sam took a few seconds before looking up at Dean. He sat up in bed and brushed a hand through his hair to get it just a little under control. Gabriel brushed his hand over Sam’s and looked him in the eyes, waiting for him to nod before he left the brothers alone. Dean pulled over a chair, so they were at eye-level.

“Dean… I…”

“It’s okay Sam. I’ll ask Gabe to delete it, but how about you? Tell me you don’t want to remember. Please let him fix you too.”

Sam looked Dean straight into the eyes. “I’ll just figure it out later, maybe years from now, but it will suck just as bad all over again. I can’t do that again.”

“But Sam…”

“No Dean.” Sam put a hand on Dean’s shoulder and held tight. Dean stilled by the determined look in Sam’s eyes.

“Let me deal with this. If you want Gabe to erase everything from your mind he will, but…”

Sam looked down and folded both hands over his bend knees.

“What…? Sam, what?”

“If I decide to remember, could you too? I can’t have you suspecting that I’m keeping secrets.”

Dean looked at his huge brother looking so small with his back pressed up against the headboard. He was handling this much better than Dean would have ever thought. Better than Dean would have himself. Dean stood up and calmed Sam’s fidgeting hands with his heavy palm.

“Okay, Sam. Do what you need to do. Tell me if you change your mind, even if it takes weeks for you to do so.” He left for the door. “And Sammy… Tell me if it gets weird and I need to get my act in order.”

Sam nodded and smiled at him, and Dean remembered the last time he saw his bother smile over three days ago when Dean found a piece of werewolf-ear stuck in his shoelaces.

With a smile he sent Gabriel back in the room to take care of his brother and walked to his and Castiel’s room to make him knock him out again. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep otherwise.   


End file.
